When Joe Biden assumed the presidency, I noted that Democrats likely had only a brief window—two years—to push through legislation. With Tuesday ushering in a new Congress, the shift in control of the House to Republicans means that Democratic initiatives will now be sidelined.
Reflecting on the past two years, Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi exceeded my initial expectations in advancing their agenda. The 117th Congress was one of the most productive in recent history.
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Yet, a host of Democratic priorities remain unfulfilled. While some battles were fiercely contested, the most crucial issues were left untouched due to a lack of even basic commitment from within the party.
Three primary categories encompass the unfinished business Democrats left behind. First are those initiatives that stalled within the Democratic caucus itself, such as federal marijuana reform, higher taxes on the wealthy, the Clean Electricity Payment Program, and the expanded Child Tax Credit.
Despite being broadly popular, these initiatives fell victim to the ideological rift between progressive and moderate Democrats in both chambers. Two moderate senators, Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, played important roles in blocking some of these efforts, such as raising taxes on the rich and advancing robust climate policies.
Their influence also contributed to the failure of measures in a second category: bills derailed by the filibuster. It was especially frustrating to see otherwise viable legislation halted by this Senate rule, which Manchin and Sinema defend as fostering bipartisanship, despite its origins in promoting division.
Protecting Our Democracy Act
Due to the filibuster, essential bills like those to strengthen the Voting Rights Act and safeguard abortion rights in the wake of Roe v. Wade’s reversal never reached Biden’s desk. Without the necessary 60 votes, these critical protections were blocked or didn’t advance to a vote.
However, the third category of legislative setbacks stands out the most. These measures failed not because of partisanship or external pressures but because lawmakers, particularly in the Senate, deprioritized them.
In an act of glaring oversight, Congress ended its session without Biden signing reforms akin to those enacted post-Watergate. In response to the corruption of Richard Nixon, Congress once redefined ethical and presidential power boundaries, yet Donald Trump’s flagrant disregard for norms failed to inspire similar reforms this time.
The Protecting Our Democracy Act (PODA) sought to enshrine norms Trump disregarded into law. The House passed it with minimal Republican support, but it stalled in the Senate, where it eventually died.
With Republicans now in control of the House, there’s little hope they will back measures that restrain the White House, even as they accuse Biden of overreach.
A few elements of PODA might still find their way into essential legislation. Recent updates to the National Defense Authorization Act, for example, included vital protections for the independence of federal inspectors general.
For further progress, however, Democrats must prioritize these changes actively. They need to signal that this unfinished work is far from forgotten, committing over the next two years to employ every legislative maneuver available to advance a better America.
